Abe Silberstein

@abesilbe.bsky.social

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Luftmensch and occasional writer. Mainly Israel/Palestine, US Jewish politics, and film.

abesilberstein.com/writings

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Violent, outside agitators from Long Island are descending on Columbia.

They are, quite literally, of a different generation.

I hate to make people, even my political opponents, feel old, but "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" were litigated in the culture ten years ago. Today's college students were in elementary school. They had nothing to do with that.

Displays like the Seder in the Streets—which I regret I could not attend—are so important. We cannot allow the public representation of the American Jew to be homogenized.

I never understood how it follows from a radical sensibility that one's vote in a U.S. presidential election is "sacred" and should only reflect one's true values. No, it's a near-worthless piece of paper that achieves the "near" prefix through strategic use.

To be clear: you should vote for Biden I can’t stand him, but who cares A president is a public utility— you’re gonna have one no matter what, so you pick the one that will cause less problems Lots of folks out here acting like the alternative to Biden is No President, when in reality it’s Trump

An earthquake is what the vilde chayes on the motorcycles want you to think that was.

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Abe Silberstein

"Fareed Zakaria's advice for Biden (on Real Time with Bill Maher) is to give a Sister Souljah speech." That is a cursed sentence. Every word is from hell

Fareed Zakaria's advice for Biden (on Real Time with Bill Maher) is to give a Sister Souljah speech. How original. When was the last time a centrist pundit recommended a Democrat pander to racists?

Leading culture warrior is culturally illiterate. News at 11.

All time dumbass tweet

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Abe Silberstein

Here is the first first-person account of a woman who experience sexual violence at the hands of Hamas militants. I don't think anything justifies Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people. But, I also think it's important to recognize Jewish women were sexually assaulted and tortured.

Israeli Hostage Says She Was Sexually Assaulted and Tortured in Gazawww.nytimes.com Amit Soussana is the first former hostage to publicly say she was sexually abused in captivity. A U.N. report has said it found “clear and convincing information” that some hostages suffered “conflict...

Hopefully this abstention is not a one-off and the Biden administration has finally realized this Israeli government is not interested in being a partner to a humane approach with regard to Gaza.

In the Opinion section of today's print New York Times, there is an essay by Peter Beinart arguing that liberal Zionists will be forced to choose between elements of that untenable combination in the coming years, with the implication that many are choosing to abandon Zionism in a clash of values.

Ha! The only chance he had at reelection was Democratic voters reliably voting for the Democratic candidate.

Breaking News: Senator Robert Menendez, facing federal bribery charges, said he wouldn’t seek re-election as a Democrat, but didn’t rule out an independent bid.

Menendez Won’t Run as Democrat but Leaves Door Open to Independent Bidwww.nytimes.com Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey faces federal bribery charges. His trial is scheduled to begin in May.

Oh boy. How am I only learning about this now?

There was potentially a very enlightening debate between Mouin Rabbani and Benny Morris in that shitshow.

I get this for Eric Adams.

Facebook keeps suggesting I might want to be friends with Megan McArdle, and I just love that for me.

The most annoying debating strategy is insisting your loaded question is simple and then portraying your opponent's elaborated response as equivocation or an effort to hide something. Thankfully this Destiny guy doesn't have the charisma to pull it off.

Did he do it in his fake simple country lawyer accent?

“Will Senate Democrats cave to an Islamophobic smear campaign? Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), not to be outdone, asked Mangi if he ‘celebrate[s] 9/11.’" popular.info/p/will-senat...

Will Senate Democrats cave to an Islamophobic smear campaign?popular.info On November 15, 2023, President Biden nominated Adeel Mangi to be a federal appeals court judge in the Third Circuit. Mangi's credentials are unimpeachable. He received his legal training at Oxford an...

Norman Finkelstein's 11:30pm talk at Brooklyn's Central Library filled up, with at least 200 people turned away. All his books at the McNally Jackson stand in the lobby sold out. The Finkelstein Renaissance is real and not only online.

Neoliberal plot to make us feel better about not being able to retire.

You're a NYT columnist. You can find an actual critic of Israel's war in Gaza willing to talk to you. Yes, even if you're Bret Stephens.

Here I imagine a game of one-on-one against a talented NBA player I can beat off the dribble

I don't know about you, but I am still waiting for my fulsome explanation.

I really thought I had seen the worst of cynical emotional manipulation over the last six months. But I think this has to be a new low.

What the red hands on the ceasefire pins mean to many of us who love Israelblogs.timesofisrael.com From the blog of Sarah Tuttle-Singer at The Times of Israel

I don't think an Oscars speech will help those who need it the most. But maybe it will help those (unfortunately, including myself) who needed some reassurance that they aren't crazy for being revolted by what Israel is doing in Gaza and by the callous indifference of our political leaders.

I see the slander against Jonathan Glazer has already commenced (specifically, by presenting a truncated quote about "refuting [his] Jewishness"). One small comfort is that he was cheered. Vanessa Redgrave was booed, shamed, and mocked after she spoke up for Palestinians at the Oscars.

Is the administration's rationale for pressing for a "temporary ceasefire" based on the assessment that it's the most Israel is willing to accept right now (probably true)? Or does the administration still believe that Israel's objectives are eventually attainable (delusional)?

...progress toward a 2-state solution or a less-hideous 1-state reality. We're 4 months in to a hideously destructive reprisal on Gaza and the most the administration will do is hint at maybe, eventually pass a resolution at the UNSC *suggesting* a temporary ceasefire when convenient for Israel(3/x)

So Yair Lapid is for the hounding of dissident parliamentarians, but only with the right law. Noted for the next time he is erroneously described as liberal.

I love filing New York State taxes. "Do you live in Yonkers?" "Have you ever lived in Yonkers?" "Did you make $1 in Yonkers last year?"

I admire Steven Soderbergh's career-long willingness to experiment with radically different genres and techniques. It's resulted in a few flops, but when he gets it right...and he gets it right in PRESENCE, which I just watched at Sundance. When it's released, make sure to see it in theaters.